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From today's featured article

Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve is a protected area in the northern Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon near the California border, managed since 1933 by the US National Park Service. The 4,554-acre (1,843 ha) park features a marble cave that was discovered in 1874. Three years after President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act of 1906, President William Howard Taft used it to establish Oregon Caves. In 2014 the protected area was expanded by about 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) and designated a National Monument and Preserve. Oregon Caves is a solutional cave, with passages totaling about 15,000 feet (4,600 m), formed in marble. The parent rock was originally limestone that metamorphosed to marble during the geologic processes that created the Klamath Mountains, including the Siskiyous. Although the limestone formed about 190 million years ago, the cave itself is no older than a few million years. Another attraction at the park is the Oregon Caves Chateau, a six-story hotel built in a rustic style in 1934; it is a National Historic Landmark and is part of the Oregon Caves Historic District within the monument. (Full article...)

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Cora Semmes Ives

... that the novel The Princess of the Moon: A Confederate Fairy Story by Cora Semmes Ives (pictured) depicts a lunar invasion by Yankee carpetbagger balloonists?
... that Puchuldiza in Chile was the site of the first electricity generated from geothermal energy in South America?
... that Governor-elect of the State of Mexico Alfredo del Mazo Maza's father, grandfather, and cousin all held the office before him?
... that the Vintage Grill & Car Museum in Weatherford, Texas, features President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 Lincoln Continental and a 1975 Trabant?
... that during the civil war of the Ottoman Interregnum, at one time or another Junayd Bey, ruler of the Beylik of Aydın, supported four different Ottoman princes vying for the throne?
... that the upcoming film Velipadinte Pusthakam will be the first collaboration between director Lal Jose and actor Mohanlal?
... that Claudia Barainsky performed operatic title roles including Daphne, Lulu, Medea, and Melusine?
... that Full Fact fact-checked the Brexit referendum?

In the news

Petya's ransom note displayed on a compromised system

Cyberattacks on Ukraine spread a new variant of the Petya malware (ransom note pictured) around the world and cause severe disruptions.
An anti-government coalition uses a police helicopter to attack the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and the Interior Ministry of Venezuela.
In sailing, the America's Cup concludes with Emirates Team New Zealand defeating Oracle Team USA.
An oil truck explosion in Ahmedpur East, Pakistan, kills at least 190 people and injures more than 140 others.
The World Health Organization estimates that 200,000 people in Yemen have been infected with cholera.

On this day...

July 8

Joseph Bonaparte

1709 – Great Northern War: Peter I of Russia defeated Charles XII of Sweden in Poltava, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.
1808 – Joseph Bonaparte (pictured) approved the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as King of Spain during the Peninsular War.
1879 – Led by George W. De Long, the ill-fated Jeannette Expedition departed San Francisco to reach the North Pole by pioneering a route through the Bering Strait.
1947 – After various news agencies reported the capture of a "flying disc" by U.S. Army Air Force personnel in Roswell, New Mexico, the military stated that what was actually recovered was debris from an experimental high-altitude surveillance weather balloon.
1972 – Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated by Mossad agents in response to the Lod Airport massacre.

Saint Kilian (d. 689) · Peter Sainthill (b. 1593) · Tzipi Livni (b. 1958)

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Today's featured picture

The interior of the chapel at Selwyn College, Cambridge, looking towards the entrance and choir. Selwyn College was established in 1882 with the mission of making "provision for those who intend to serve as missionaries overseas and... educate the sons of clergymen". Membership was initially limited to baptised Christians, and attendance at the chapel – which was built in 1895 – was mandatory until 1935.

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Photograph: David Iliff

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